Matt Lohry

I just discovered this bridge on Google Earth--it's on a private driveway, and as such, has no NBI data associated with it. I don't know how long it has been since the bridge serviced a public road, but the bridge appears to be built in the early 1900's or 1910's.

This phenomenon is not as unique as one would think...the effect on the rail is due to electrical induction, which is a result of the bridge rails being in close proximity to high-voltage transmission lines with the rails not having proper grounding. This same phenomenon was occurring on a new pedestrian bridge the MN Twin Cities area that was built about a decade ago now, where the bridge passed underneath a double-circuit 345kV line--people were actually getting significant electric shocks when they passed over the bridge, due to the railings not being grounded as well as the height of the steel fence railings on either side. The builders of the bridge were forced to add grounding to the railings, which has fixed the problem.

Ish. I hate it. They could have at least used a replacement like the Embarrass River Bridge or the West Swan River bridge that we've just seen in the forum...this is just an eyesore. As Tony has pointed out, it would sure have been nice to keep the historic bridge in place, but the county's dead-in-the-water maintenance plan did not do it any favors--it was so deteriorated that there was no feasible way to save it.

MnDOT does have some sort of re-use program in place, but only for a finite, pre-selected group. Most of these bridges are more notable and "rare" (they're ALL extremely rare now!); they seem to have considered these Warrens "common" and not worth salvaging; I don't know of any from up there that have been re-used. It's sad to see them all being wiped out; there were tons of these bridges when I was a kid; now there are none :'(

I agree; it's certainly not an historic truss, but it beats Jersey barriers any day of the week! St. Louis County has been using this bridge type on county roads for several decades now; presumably to fit in a little bit better with their "rustic" atmosphere. They use Jersey and steel barriers on state and federal highways though.

I would agree; it appears to basically have the same configuration as a 2-span Pratt.

The Bing Streetside car has been through here; this is a beautiful Parker through truss bridge in an equally beautiful setting! Is it possible to add Bing Streetside views to the site? There are many bridges that have Streetside views that do not have GE Streetview.

This one is hand-operated as well.

I agree with Nathan's comment; however, considering the razor-thin escape from the wrecking ball that this bridge pulled off, I'm sure happy to see carriage bolts on this historic bridge over a new, ugly, MOB, which was the plan until only a couple of years ago!

I went out with my family today and took photos of the newly restored bridge. Overall good restoration; most of the rivets along the bottom chords of the bridge have been replaced with bolts and the bearings have been replaced. Other than that, mainly blast and paint, and new concrete deck.

Definitely not a steel stringer, but not a concrete rigid frame either--I would probably call this a slab.

I believe that Robert was referring to the category that was assigned to the bridge, not the location. There is no dispute that this is the correct bridge, location, and it is the Fox River--however, the category that was previously assigned was the Fox River that passes between Green Bay and Appleton--Wisconsin has 2 Fox Rivers, which makes things confusing. This Fox River originates just north of Waukesha and passes through Burlington and down into Illinois. Just wanted to clear things up.

I never said that they don't--just go whine about it on Facebook, not here. That's my point.

Again, Robert, very well said. There is no excuse for complete lack of common sense, and responsibility certainly does not fall to any political entities; stupid is just that--stupid. Blaming Trump for everything that goes wrong just because you don't like him is just ridiculous. If we all did that, we'd be nailing Obama for every stupid thing that lack of common sense caused over the last eight years, but we did not do that. I'm honestly weary of listening to the political crap, coming from EITHER side, and I sure don't want to see it on this site! No, I'm not the webmaster, but this is the one place that I should be able to come to and not have to put up with it. That's what Facebook is for, and that's why I do not use that site or contribute to its cause. I come here for bridges and fellow bridgehunters, and that's it.

It rotates on its center pier, just the same as any other swing bridge. I'm not sure where the straight joint is that you refer to, but the joint between the approach roadway and the bridge deck is slightly curved to accommodate the rotation of the bridge span.